Jordan, only one stop apart from Tsim Sha Tsui, it is totally another cityview with impressive local culture. I have a lot memory in Temple Street, around Fruit Market, and the special Eating-block near Austin. The beauty of that eating-area is more local than something fancy and luxury. In Man Ying Street, there is a line of BBQ restaurants making the whole street smell like a BBQ stove. Chuan Shao is one of them, and probably one of the oldest and the most popular. To my surprise, the restaurant looks quite young with good environment and a lot creative and yummy dishes. Draught beer and Saki (around $38 per glass) available in the restaurant in the reasonable price and a large group of eaters will be arranged to a long bench table in the private room with TV, but I guess it is better to make reservation in advance for a perfect party night. For the cold appertizer, we had very Sichuan-style Fish Skin with such a lovely jelly texture and sauteed with an impressive spicy sauce but not turned you down so much. It reminded me about the authentic and delicious Sichuan Cuisine with a perfect mixing of spicy, sweet and sesame-fragrant. The other one was, Iced Kale Stem, the only spice was from Wasabi sauce. It was quite good looking and fresh tasting. Grilled Eel Fish Grilled Razor Clam The grilled seafood dishes were perfect, with quite good seafood quality in a lighter way. The eel fish and clam was kept in a soft, fresh and living texture with just a little bit saucing such as Japanese sweet BBQ sauce with eel fish, and Saki with Razor clam. Besides, we also tried Spicy Clam with Fish & Sake Soup, which is not as outstanding as the previous two, but still good enough with the consideration of its price. Grilled Signature Octopus Stick, which I didn't show the picture, was also a recommended item for its fish-tofu similar texture but more chewy, elastic and taste really octopus. Grilled Ox Tongue Coming to the meaty part, of course, we couldn't miss Ox Tongue which was perfectly made with thin-cut slices; crispy, savory and greasy surface with juicy soft middle layer. Grilled Japanese Green Pepper $22 For me, grilled vegetables are always more attractive than meats, and in Chuan Shao, they have a really good selection of vegetables offered in both traditional BBQ way and creative way. Traditionally, you won't miss Grilled Eggplant with Spicy Minced Meat ($28), which was slightly not salty or spicy enough as my personal preference but still delicious in general. What I want to recommend are, Grilled Sweet Corn ($20), Grilled Japanese Green Pepper ($22), Grilled Indian Lettuce ($10). Especially the green pepper, it was grilled with meat roll and absorbed the natural oil from the meat to be more tasty, plus I loved the little glutinous taste from the inside part of green pepper as it was heated up. Grilled Sweet Dumplings (Sesame) $20 Grilled Bite-sized Cheesecake $24 As to the desserts, firstly Fried Cheese Ricecake ($30) is a must-try dish. Its look as just normal, but made with a thicker fried rice layer and enough hot cheese melting inside, the taste was sooooo nice that I could not find a better one so far. It was definitely what a heavy-cheese-lover crave for. Then we had some creative grilled desserts from what we are used to. Traditional sesame dumplings were grilled and tasted similar to ricecake but not that sticky anymore, it became more crispy but still maintained the same and even 'hotter' taste of black sesame (while I would expect more liquid texture of sesame inside on a bite). Cheesecake, but grilled, they looked really like fired tofu, and of course the texture turned to be harder and not longer moisture and smooth, but still it was a lighter version of cheesecake, and I would suggest a try, because it was quite good indeed and just a little 'out-of-square'. As the finishing treatment, we were offered iced Durian Rice-sticky Ice Cream. It had a very good taste of Durian which was balanced in creamy and Durian-flavor. Regarding to the overall texture, it was a little bit too icy and so that it was harder than I expected, but it is true to better preserve and serve Durian ice cream in a very cold status, and I will be more patient to let it melt a little more next time. Chuan Shao G/F, 17 Man Ying Street Ferry Point Jordan (closed to Austin) Kowloon Hong Kong +852 2311 1230 Everyday. 5pm - 2.30am Facebook Please give a LIKE to my Facebook Page ! You can also fine me on other networks through Home Page links.
